Fuses are a common component found in many electrical devices. In general, fuses are electrical safety components consisting of a wire or strip that melts and interrupts a circuit when the current passing through the fuse exceeds a particular amperage. Once a fuse is blown, i.e., the wire or strip melts, the fuse must be replaced to re-establish the circuit.
Replacing blown fuses in fused electrical devices often requires disassembly of the electrical device and/or use of one or more hand-tools to access and retrieve a blown fuse. Accordingly, accessing and replacing a blown fuse can often be a difficult, cumbersome and time-consuming process.
In addition, although current panel fuse holders connect the fuses while insolating them from the user, they compromise either panel space, contact stability or fuse current capability. A fuse holder must tolerate high fuse temperature, conduct heat away from the fuse and fit in a housing. Metal contacts survive high temperatures while conducting heat away from the fuse. Axial fuse holders, which minimize panel space by presenting the smallest profile of the fuses to the user, must make contact with the proximal end of the fuse after the housing accepts the distal end. This is presently done either by a movable proximal fuse contact, actuated by a part of the dielectric cover, or a fuse contact mounted on the cover that connects through an additional, separable contact to the housing circuit. Such axial fuse holders cannot tolerate much heat. In the first case, the dielectric cover that actuates the fuse contact cannot tolerate high fuse temperatures, and its movable fuse contact cannot conduct much heat. In the second case, the separable contact generates heat and restricts heat transmission from the fuse. Radial fuse holders present both ends of a fuse to fixed metal fuse contacts but occupy more panel space.
It would, therefore, be beneficial to provide a fuse panel module in which the fuses could be inserted and removed without damage to the fuse or the fuse contacts. In addition, it would be beneficial to provide a fuse panel module which combines the compact advantage of axial fuse holders with the thermal advantages of radial fuse holders.